Christmas party killer's parole eligibility set at 10 years

A subdued Miguel Chacon-Perez stood up in the prisoner’s box and said he was “ashamed.”

He said he shouldn’t have drunk so much at the company Christmas party two years ago. He shouldn’t have gotten angry at an innocuous insult.

He should have left the party after the initial confrontation and not come back. He shouldn’t have told his friends to drive him to the banquet hall after leaving in a huff. He shouldn’t have tossed away the knife that was used to kill.

Those are his regrets. But, he said, “I did not kill Chad.”

“I cannot say more than sorry,” Chacon-Perez said with tears in his eyes at his sentencing hearing after he was convicted last week of second-degree murder in the stabbing death of Guelph plumbing apprentice Chad Robinson.

Chacon-Perez, 29, the Cuban immigrant who worked in renovations and never had a brush with the law until now, was sentenced to life with no chance of parole for 10 years, the minimum sentence for second-degree murder.

The sentencing was completed in short order from the trial, a far cry from the usual wait times of at least six weeks often seen for the preparation of pre-sentence reports associated with serious cases..

But, given defence lawyer Richard Posner’s remarks in court that there will be an appeal in the case, and that Chacon-Perez was on release for almost two years before his trial, a quick sentencing will likely lead to a quick application to the Ontario Court of Appeal for bail pending appeal.

That wasn’t happening Friday, but the defence’s contention that Chacon-Perez’s conviction was a miscarriage of justice hung heavily in the air during the hearing.

Equally present was the loss of Robinson, 26, described by his family as a fun-loving, thoughtful, hardworking young man with a future plans and a career, who “lit up every room he went into.”

The trial was a roller-coaster of circumstantial evidence surrounding a renovation company’s Christmas party and a parking lot melee on Dec. 18, 2016, when Robinson died of a single stab wound to the chest.

“The incident at the Imperio banquet hall was the most tragic example of the toxic mix of too much alcohol, reckless comments, misplaced machismo, numerous overreactions, the resort to fighting, use of knives, sheer and unbridled stupidity — all of which cascaded out of control into a melee where many people were injured and ended in the death of Chad Robinson,” said Superior Court Justice Michael McArthur in his sentencing decision.

Chacon-Perez said during the trial it wasn’t him and singled out his former friend, Irvin Alex Aparacio-Chicas, 28, a man with a violent streak and a criminal record, as the real killer.

But DNA evidence on a knife that was discarded by Chacon-Perez, had both his and Robinson’s blood on it, connecting the weapon back to him.

Right after he was convicted, Chacon-Perez was taken into custody. Even after a week, it was clear jail hadn’t been easy. His suit seemed to fit him looser. He hadn’t shaved. His gaze was focused on the floor during the hearing.

When it was his time to speak, after hearing the victim impact statements from Robinson’s best friend, Nathan Smith, and Robinson’s family, Chacon-Perez turned around in the prisoner’s box to address them directly in the courtroom.

“I have no place in my heart for hate,” he said, but added he wished he could take back what he did.

Chacon-Perez had a particular message for Smith, the man who called him “Kijiji-man” at the Christmas party, sparking the increased tensions and violence, and who said he carried guilt for going back into the banquet hall when Robinson came out to the parking lot to defend him.

“I wish I had a friend like you,” he said, and told him not to punish himself.

Chacon-Perez said he “failed completely” by not listening to his mother that night to go home and tell ing his friends to take him back to the party.

“I only blame myself for all the mistakes I did,” he said.

Assistant Crown attorney Adam Campbell, in making a pitch for a parole ineligibilty of 12 to 15 years, said he couldn’t take issue with Chacon-Perez’s good character but the circumstances surrounding the murder — the stab to the chest, the return to the party as a “motive” and the discarding of the knife at the back of the parking lot.

“I can’t believe what I’m hearing,” Posner said in reply. “I just can’t.”

Posner said that from the first time he met Chacon-Perez at the Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre in January 2017, “I was immediately taken aback by Mr. Chacon-Perez’s intelligence, his thoughtfulness and, in fact, at that very first meeting, remorse for having gotten so intoxicated at that party and having been so foolish to get so angry in the banquet hall.”

And he added, “while at the same time, protesting his innocence.”

Posner said his client has been “a paragon of politeness and respect” and that while on bail, Chacon-Perez was a loving, stay-at-home father to his young son. His client had “fought tooth and nail” not to have his family at the sentencing — and they were not in the courtroom — because “he does not want them to see him like this.”

Since Robinson’s death, Chacon-Perez has quit drinking and made “a commitment to a life of sobriety.”

Chacon-Perez, he said, has acted with “deep sincerity and humility and always calm, not strangely calm” — a shot at Campbell who questioned Chacon-Perez’s demeanour in his closing trial address.

Smith said during his victim impact statement that Chacon-Perez was “the Grinch who stole our Christmas” and referred to the night of the party as “the night Miguel stole our Chad.”

Robinson was a storyteller and fun. “He had boundless potential that will never be realized,” he said.

Nathan Smith leaves the London courthouse Friday Dec. 21, 2018, after his best friend’s killer, Miguel Chacon-Perez, was given a life sentence with no chance of parole for 10 years for the second-degree murder of Chad Robinson, who was stabbed to death at a Christmas party on Dec. 18, 2016. DALE CARRUTHERS / THE LONDON FREE PRESS

The only side of Chacon-Perrez that Smith said he saw was violent and “I fear the day he is released” for himself and his own young son.

“There is no forgiving him. I pray he never seeks it. His voice will be met with deaf ears and concrete walls.”

The Robinson family’s statement, read by Campbell, spoke of burying their son three days before Christmas, being haunted by his death and told Chacon-Perez that “you’ve taken the last two years of our lives.”

The result of the trial was the right one, they said. “We knew and felt Miguel Chacon-Perez was guilty. We never felt such relief. Justice for Chad has finally been served.”

Sean Robinson leaves the London courthouse Friday Dec. 21, 2018, after his brother’s killer, Miguel Chacon-Perez, was given a life sentence with no chance of parole for 10 years for the second-degree murder of Chad Robinson, who was stabbed to death at a Christmas party on Dec. 18, 2016. DALE CARRUTHERS / THE LONDON FREE PRESS

In his decision, McArthur acknowledged “the gaping hole” left in the Robinson family, and how they feel “emotionally battered and bruised.”

He told Chacon-Perez that he was sentencing him “with a heavy heart” and noted the majority of the jury had given a parole ineligibility recommendation of 10 years.

He followed their lead, but McArthur decided not to comment on the jury’s decision to convict Chacon-Perez as the defence wanted.

“It is not my role to comment here on the jury verdict one way or another,” he said, and added that the appeals court “will provide the necessary vigilance and collective wisdom when reviewing this case.”

Outside the court, Chad Robinson’s brother Sean said he found Chacon-Perez’s words to them “were a little disgusting. I felt it was unnecessary. We knew what was going on . . . we anticipated some sort of act like that.”

“It’s never enough. We’re never going to see our brother again and my parents aren’t going to see their son, but at the end of the day we know he’s behind bars and that’s great for us.”

And the family is prepared if there is an appeal. “One day at a time,” he said. “We’re looking forward and we know in our hearts what’s happened, the jury knew what happened. The evidence was there.”

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